Economics worth more than animal life...

Some of you might know that in the Netherlands and some other countries the fipronil scandal took place in the past months.
Millions of eggs, hard work for the hens, have been destroyed.
And worse, hundreds of thousands hens have been killed. Some farmers have chosen to have the hens moult to have remove the fipronil from their bodies.

The newspaper article shown above, saying the judge decides farmers are allowed to kill the - healthy - chicken, made me very angry. Because the headline mentions 'gifkippen', 'poisonchicken', a 'framing' word.. What can the poor chicken do about it? And the text says the chicken are 'economicaly worthless animals'... While each and every animal is worth being!

They did it again...

This time a mass tree slaughter in a neighbouring city...
I can't understand why the local authorities cut down so many trees - living lungs! - in our polluted urbanized motorwayful region...

Sent to Ryosuke Cohen. Hope this Tribute to the Trees will raise a little bit of awareness. Probably the authorities will stay deaf and don't care about biodiversity and our future generations' health...

Walnut Tree

Verzonden naar Turkije, voor het 'Ik ben een walnotenboom' mail art project.
Het mail art project is gebaseerd op een prachtig (en alarmerend) gedicht van Nâzım Hikmet, zie onder, en zie ook de mail art call.

Sent to Turkye, for the 'I'm a walnut tree' mail art project.
This project is based on a beautiful (and alarming!) poem called “Walnut Tree”, by Nâzım Hikmet*:

"Yes, walnut tree is watching us. Is looking at what we do, with a shock in its eyes…
Because...
We doomed our cities to purely concrete squares, treeless streets and soilless parks.
Air is polluted, water is polluted... Fish have gone away; migratory birds are endangered; our dogs and cats are enslaved.
We have forgotten to produce... System has identified all of us as “consumers”, and while we are consuming lavishly, garbage mountains are encircling us mischievously.
And we are destroying the future of our children.
Hasn’t time come to say a “stop” thereto?
Come on. Let’s think over not a moment too soon. Where did we made a mistake? And what should we do from now on?
And let’s lend an ear to the Walnut Tree..."

Poem quoted from the mail art call.

Project 'Sustainability'

Voor het mail art project van Pâmela Teles uit Brazilië: 'duurzaamheid in jouw stad'.
't Was best lastig om iets te bedenken. Ja, in mijn woonplaats wordt glas, papier en gft-afval gescheiden ingezameld, en ook plastic afval inzamelen gebeurt (eerder zelfs dan in de grote buurgemeente).
Maar verder... De bestuurders pretenderen dat we een 'groene stad' hebben. Maar met grote voortvarendheid, en onder flauwe voorwendselen, kappen ze volop bomen, in plaats deze te onderhouden (zie deze foto's van een massaslachting).

Maar wat wel mooi is, in mijn stad, is de grote hoeveelheid fietspaden. Niet alleen in onze stad, natuurlijk. En we hebben de fietspaden niet zozeer te danken aan de stadsbestuurders zelf (die willen liever uitbreiding van wegen en koopcentra), maar aan de stadsregio en het rijk.

Made for the mail art project of Pâmela Teles from Brazil: 'What is sustainability in your city?'
It was difficult to think of a subject. Yes, there is separate collection of waste (glass, paper, green waste), and they started to collect plastic waste earlier than our neighbouring big city.
However, the local authorities pretend we have a 'green city', but meanwhile they cut down hundreds of trees, instead of maintaining them (see these pictures of a mass slaughter three years ago).

One good thing, concerning sustainability, is the fact that there are a lot of bicycle pathways in our city. Well, that is fact in most parts of the Netherlands. And it's not because of our local authorities (they prefer to expand highways and shopping centers), but thanks to the regional authorities and national money.

Behold mankind

'Aanschouw de economische mens'.
Stempelontwerp, voor Ryosuke Cohen.

'Behold the man for whom only the economy matters'.
Stamp design, sent to Ryosuke Cohen.